Your Credit Score
Your credit score can have a major impact on your life. Not only do creditors typically check your score when deciding whether or not to approve your application and what interest rate to charge you if you are approved, but landlords, insurance companies, and even employers often check it as well. Having a good score can help you achieve your goals quickly and at the lowest possible cost.
What is a Credit Score?
Your credit score is a mathematical assessment of the likelihood you will repay what you borrow. It is based on the information in your credit report, which tracks your credit-related activity. Types of credit include credit cards, store cards, personal loans, car loans, mortgages, student loans, and lines of credit. For each account, your report shows who it is with, your payment history, the initial amount borrowed (for loans) or credit limit (for revolving credit), the current amount owed, and when it was opened/taken out. Your report also shows if you have experienced any credit-related legal actions, such as a judgment, foreclosure, bankruptcy, or repossession, and who has pulled your report (called an inquiry). There are three major credit bureaus that compile and maintain credit reports: Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. Theoretically, all three of your reports should be the same, but it is not uncommon for creditors to report to only one or two of the bureaus.
VantageScore®
There are many credit scores available to lenders. One of the most commonly used scoring models is the VantageScore 3.0. Scores ranges from 300 to 850, with a higher score being indicative of lesser risk. Generally, those with a higher score are more easily granted credit and get a better interest rate. While there is no standard for what constitutes a good credit score, one benchmark to keep in mind is that it can be difficult to get a mortgage or a loan if your score is poor.
The following are the factors that are used to calculate your VantageScore:
- Payment history (40%): Making your payments on time boosts your score. Conversely, if you make a late payment, your score will take a hit. The more recent, frequent, and severe the lateness, the lower your score. Collection accounts and legal actions have a serious negative impact.
- Age and Type of Credit Age (21%): The longer you have had your accounts, the better. Having a variety of accounts, such as credit cards, retail accounts, and a mortgage, boosts your score.
- Percent of Credit Used (20%): Using all of the credit available to you, such as maxing out your credit cards, may be an indicator of financial distress and indicates higher risk.
- Total Balance (11%): Carrying large balances on personal loans and revolving debt, like credit cards, particularly if those balances are close to the credit limits, will lower your score.
- Recent Credit (5%): This factor looks at the number and proportion of recently opened accounts and the number of inquiries. While many inquiries on your report will lower your score, all mortgage or auto loan inquiries that occur within a 45-day period are considered just one inquiry for scoring purposes. Accessing your own report is not damaging to your score nor are inquiries for pre-approval offers. Having new accounts can hurt your score, but if you have had a history of late or irregular payments, reestablishing a positive credit history will be taken into account.
- Available Credit (3%): The amount of available credit on your credit card accounts.
Improving Your Score
Following these habits can boost your score:
- Always pay on time: Your payment history makes up the largest chunk of your credit score, so making your payments on time is extremely important.
- Pay down existing debt: Even if you have never missed a payment, a large debt load will lower your score. Explore ways you can lower your interest rates and free up cash to make more than the minimum payments.
- Avoid taking on additional debt: Besides paying down existing debt, make an effort to not take on more debt in the future. For revolving credit, ideally you should not charge more than you can pay off in full the next month, but at the very least, try to keep the balance well under half of the credit limit.
- Check your report for errors: Many reports contain score-lowering errors. Check your credit report from the three bureaus at least annually, and send a dispute letter to them if you notice any errors. You can get a free copy of your report once a year from the Annual Credit Report Request Service. If you do not have a social security number you can check your credit history and get your score by filling out and submitting our ITIN Credit Report Request.
- Keep your old accounts: A long credit history with the same accounts indicates stability.
- Limit balance transfers: While transferring balances to “teaser rate” cards can be a way to efficiently get out of debt, it can also have a detrimental effect on your credit score. The accounts will be new and likely have balances close to the limit to maximize the advantage of the low rate – two factors that lower your score.
- Avoid excess credit applications: When you apply for credit, your score decreases just a bit. If you do it frequently, a creditor may see it as a sign that you need to rely on credit to pay your bills.
- Be patient: It may feel like credit mistakes can haunt you forever, but remember that your payment history from the past two years is much more important than what happened before that. Also keep in mind that most negative information is removed from your report after seven years.